Photini

Photini was a Samaritan woman from Sychar in Samaria. One day, as she was drawing water from the well, Jesus asked her for some water, but she refused, as he was a Jew, and Jews refused to share her cups and bowls with Samaritans. However, Jesus promised her "life-giving water" from God if she followed him, and he promised that the water which he could give would become a spring which could give people eternal life. Photini asked for this water so that she could never be thirsty again, and Jesus asked her to call her husband and come back. Photini said that she did not have a husband, but Jesus stated that she had previously been married five times, and that she was living with a man who was not her husband. Photini was awed, believing that Jesus was a prophet. Jesus also revealed that he was the Messiah, and the overwhelmed Photini ran past the Twelve Apostles as they brought food to Jesus, and she spread word among the Samaritan townspeople that Jesus was the Messiah. Photini became a Christian, and she proselytized others with her story. Having drawn the attention of the Roman emperor Nero, she was tortured before being thrown down a dry well, dying as a martyr.